OwnerBuilderBook.com - Forums

Closing Costs On Construction Loan

Arne in Houston, TX — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 16:24:59 GMT

You will have some preliminary costs to pay, but will not be paying all the fees that you would have paid throughout a normal process.

Really, it is not a simple answer since a lot depends on the loan you obtained and the terms.

Framer in Ft. Myers/Cape Coral area

Bob in Deltona, FL — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 07:18:10 GMT

JR,

Try Paul, he may be what your looking for:

servicesbypaularnold@yahoo.com

tx,
Bob

Well Diggers

Cheryl in Gardner, KS — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 09:07:32 GMT

We've watched the DVD, and my husband is confident we can do this, with the purchase of an air compressor/generator that will be powerful enough to do the job. When we looked at renting the air compressor, my husband's estimates showed us spending about $3,000, and that is just to rent the air compressor. Granted, we are estimating high, but our soil is full of clay, and we are assuming it will take quite a bit of time to dig.

HowtoDrillaWell.com's estimates show two inches per hour in clay. We are also assuming we'll need to go to a 150-ft. depth. It may be more, it may be less. We found an air compressor/generator combo for purchase that is $2,100. The equipment will be about $1,000, so we are going to estimate $4,000 for the well. The bonus will be that we end up with a generator and air compressor that will be very useful for the rest of the building process.

Designing SIP or stick-frame house

Mike in Bonham, TX — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 08:34:12 GMT

dcg:

We've built a couple of bermed homes, and interestingly enough, ICF was used as the main structural wall system for the part that was buried in the hillside.

There are several good resources for design considerations on building in-ground. I'm an avid fan of pre-modern construction methodologies (stone, timber and log) and I have a small library of related books. One that does very well in explaining how to build a retaining wall, bermed foundation or basement is Building with Stone by Charles McRaven. Point being, if you can build a stone wall to withstand the forces in play, then doing it with concrete is very simple.

The two biggest issues you'll have to address are downhill forces of the dirt against the structure and moisture control. For the two homes we've done, both used a cut-and-fill approach, i.e. we cut into the hillside for part of the structure and then pushed the dirt out over the downhill side to create a level building pad.

For the wall structure, you'll either pour a slip-form concrete wall, use a grouted CMU with rebar, or an ICF type system. Cost-wise, there's not much difference when you get to the final finish-out. If you go with a stacked CMU or slip-form concrete, keep in mind that you'll need to fir out the interior wall. If you go with an ICF system, that is not necessary. Also, a polystyrene (Styrofoam) system already has significant moisture barrier built in. Be sure to either check with the ICF mfr. for below-grade performance specs, or have the structure designed and spec'd by an engineer.

For the drainage on the uphill side of the foundation, you've got to dig a channel below foundation grade and have it properly sloped to the downhill side. Then bed the channel with gravel, install your French-drain pipe, cover with a sleeve and more gravel. That will take care of evacuating the water from the foundation so it doesn't lip the slab and flood the house. Then the next thing is to have the walls waterproofed. This can be done with spray-on materials or heavy plastics that are specifically designed for this purpose. Just be sure the barrier overlaps the edge of the slab. Then backfill against the wall, but don't compact the soil with heavy equipment, or you can damage your wall.

I have included pics of the two bermed homes. In the bottom pic, you'll see reflective-foam board placed against the wall. The homeowner did this just before the backfill. It wasn't necessary, but he had the unused board lying around. The only problem with what he did here was that the top of the board is not sealed, therefore water will get down behind it. This still is not a problem, because of the membrane moisture barrier on the wall itself. Point is, doing this really didn't protect against anything.

Designing SIP or stick-frame house

dcg in Lago Vista, TX — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 07:37:18 GMT

Again, my opinion:

ICF and SIP are superior products. They DO cost more (don't believe the advertisements, add up the total cost of construction). You can do well with stick and foam and a careful detail-oriented build, but you will need to do things like go to 2x6 walls.

A combination of insulation types would be good also - I like the cellulose wall idea with a foam roof... Good if done correctly? Sure. As good as ICF or foam? Probably not. My advice is to pay attention to the roof - most of the heat gain/heat loss is through the roof. Walls and windows, although important, are secondary.

A traditionally-insulated home can be built "tight" too, but typically you're going to have unheated attic space, which houses your HVAC and air handler... I just don't think that piping HVAC through an attic that can reach 120-140 degrees is a good idea.

There are two problems with building an ICF/SIP home in terms of financials:

1) Appraisal. As mentioned above, most people won't pay significantly more for a SIP/ICF home. Most appraisers (in my experience) don't even know the difference and won't account for it. If you're going to modern features that add to build cost, make sure - up front - that your appraiser is familiar with that building technology. Otherwise, it's likely to get ignored. If you're paying cash, this isn't an issue.

2) Resale. Face it, resale is an issue. The advantage to custom building right now is that the cost of materials is down as is the cost of labor. Still, your home may not be worth the cost to build it. For many people, it's not about immediate resale, and this is OK as long as you can get to 80% LTV (see above).

I'm contemplating building a "guest" house on our property. As much as I'd like to build a SIP/ICF, I just don't see it in the cards right now. I'm considering building a berm home - which would largely be concrete on three sides. We have the property for it, but I haven't found a lot of good books on design considerations and I know that the local contractors and builders are simply going to shake their heads. I would expect an earth-berm home to be well thermocoupled and do very well... Anyone have any good references for design considerations with berm homes? I'd like to do a small one first, maybe 500 sq ft. We're in Texas, and basically our ground is limestone after about 2' down.

subdivide/short plat & wetland

Rachel in John's Island, SC — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 21:03:32 GMT

We have the same problem. We are buying three acres from an 8.8-acre lot. We had two options: $55,000 for the land with the owner doing the subdivision, or $50,000 with us doing the legwork. According to the county any lot under five acres has to have a wetlands determination. When I called to get the lot subdivision quotes from various land surveyors, they all wanted to do the wetlands and my bids were around $8,000!

I called the county's planning department and had a long talk with him about the situation. Our lot was zoned R-3. So each lot had to be at least 14,000 sq. ft. It couldn't be any more than five times as long as it was wide, and your home has to be 45' from the property line. The Army Corps of Engineers does the wetland determination for free, but everyone I talked to wanted to do it as a "consultation." They told me the Army Corps of Engineers were always busy and had a 6-month to a year waiting period.

Unable to grasp that, I called up their project manager of the day and he told me they normally run about three weeks. I turned in the lot information to them and they were out there in two weeks. My contact at the county department called me back a day later saying he had two surveyor's names who had surveyed the property in the last five years. I called them up and got a bid for $1,000 for the subdivision survey. We ended up saving $4,000!

We are scheduled to close the second week in Sept, and we gave ourselves plenty of time for the survey, the county and the bank. Once you turn in your subdivision survey to the county, they have 30 days to accept it. Then the bank wants another 30 days to approve the plans, budget, etc. Please give yourself plenty of time to get these things done. It will be worth it.

Designing SIP or stick-frame house

Mike in Bonham, TX — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 20:42:56 GMT

That was Glen who mentioned the difficulty in fishing wire through sprayed cellulose. I have pulled wire through fiberglass batt (that's not fun AT ALL). Cellulose is the easiest, although not easy. Open-cell spray foam is doable with a sharp and flexible spring-steel snake. Closed-cell hard foam is almost impossible without opening up the wall or having a straight shot at drilling through it or punching through with sharpened rebar. Styrofoam is almost as hard as the closed-cell foam.

When we've had to pull wire through the SIP walls, we've had to cut access holes in the skins in order to cut out the foam and pull wire. Then we've had to drill through the lumber splines. SIPs are a nightmare to work with if you have to get out of the pre-cut wiring chases. With ICF, you just use a hot knife or Sawzall to rip your channels for the wiring. Real easy to do. Plumbing, on the other hand, is a chore if you are using a solid-core system and forget a line and have to cut through the concrete and rebar. Wiring and plumbing in log structures are generally run through framed-out raceways.

As far as SIPs or ICF or any other technology, I'm not married to any of them and I don't sell any of them, on purpose. They all have a place, depending on who is doing the evaluation of the product against requirements. Personally, of all the systems I've built with, SIPs are the biggest pain. By far the easiest is a stick frame. Easy to find good subs and other trades to work in the structure. Go SIPs, ICF, logs, steel or timber, and it gets more "interesting".

From a performance point of view, SIPs, ICF and stick/foam can give you similar energy performance. ICF and SIPs are usually very close in cost to build. From an out-of-pocket total monthly financial performance, I've consistently seen the following order: ICF, SIP, sticks. In other words, by the time you add up the monthly mortgage payment, utilities, insurance and pest-control costs, ICF costs less per month than SIPs or sticks (at least that's what my clients in Texas have seen.)

As a licensed RE broker, I think you're right about your assessment of (lack of) added value based on the type of construction. In today's market, you just won't get it back. In fact, I advise my clients not to build right now unless it is their dream home and they won't be moving out for a long time. Generally, you can buy a similar house to the one you want to build for about 20-40% LESS. In fact, I did a broker price opinion on a house up in Denison that would have easily cost around $1.2M to build. I estimated the value of the home based on similar comps at $595,000. It sold as a short sale for $340,000!!! And it was a real keeper. 8,100 sq ft, 6 BR, 6 bath, studio, 5-car garage, exercise room, pottery room, large wooden barn, split-rail fencing in an estate community on three acres.

I do get around the state, so if I can answer any questions, don't hesitate to ask. I'll give you the best answers I can based on personal experience and without any financial incentives to skew the responses.

You mentioned that OBN was the only company within an hour's drive of your location. Do they do site visits?

Designing SIP or stick-frame house

William in Atascocita, TX — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 19:15:42 GMT

Mike, the local manufacturer I was speaking of is Frontier in the Conroe area. I really would like to go with SIP, but cannot justify the costs vs. time to pay out vs. no real increased resale value at this time for a SIP house.

Designing SIP or stick-frame house

Chris in Beaumont, TX — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 18:41:28 GMT

Mike,

What my builder friend said was you will have a hard time fishing any type of wire into the walls once they are spray-foamed. But I never thought about what the difference would be when using a wet-sprayed cellulose. I guess I would be curious as to how hard the cellulose is when it has fully dried. Thanks for bringing that up.

So what is everyone's consensus on the best alternative to a SIP-built house (by the way I didn't mean anything by it being a superior product, just going off of what I have been told and read online; I'm definitely no professional when it comes to this type of stuff)?

No UBuildIt is not in my area, the only company within an hour's drive is OBN.

Designing SIP or stick-frame house

Glen in Houston, TX — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 12:01:23 GMT

I assume Chris is referring to not being able to "fish" electrical or other wiring into a spray-foamed wall. However, I doubt it would be much easier with wet-sprayed cellulose walls.

Step-by-step approach for footing & waterproofing

Kenneth in Lees Summit, MO — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 06:24:09 GMT

The PVC waterstop gets embedded into the concrete footer; when you pour your concrete wall on top of the footer, it provides a waterproof barrier in the cold joint. Perhaps the detail illustrates this better (a picture is worth a thousand words and all). You can get these from commercial construction suppliers (I purchased mine from Carter-Waters).

As to the fabric forms, the flap should be long enough so that it partially runs up the outside of the ICF, and the the W.R. Grace (or other peel-and-stick waterproof membrane) membrane that you are using to waterproof the ICF actually tapes over the fabric forms. The way you describe the video is what I am trying to explain (the fabric form is folded up the outside of the ICF wall). Someone once told me to think about waterproofing the way you dress in a rainstorm. From the bottom up; the pants cuffs go outside the boots, the rain slicker goes outside the pants, the hood drains outside the rain slicker; basically water has a path to run from top to bottom without getting the person wet. In a rainstorm you don't want to tuck your pants into your boots, your rain slicker into your pant waistband, etc. Same concept for waterproofing flashing and membrane on your house.

Note that in the construction detail for the waterstop that a barrier is installed in the cold joint between the footer and the concrete wall - this is called a capillary water break, and I don't like this installation one bit!!! To read more about the function of a capillary water break, go over to buildingscience.com (here is a direct link). Again they show a detail (figure 1) with the capillary water break installed between the footer and the concrete wall, and I still don't like this installation. With the fabric form, you get the capillary water break under and up the sides of the footer, and thus no compromise of the cold joint between the footer and the wall.

I thought about pouring my footers and walls at the same time; it saves a trip from the concrete pumper (concrete pump trucks are $$$) and eliminates a cold joint in the wall. However ICF can compact and/or float on you, and I had never poured ICF before, hence I thought having nice level footers to start with gave me a running start on a successful ICF installation. I ended up subcontracting the ICF, but my ICF subcontractor preferred discreet steps here as well.

And lastly your footers. This is not an uncommon technique to pour footers in residential construction. Not necessarily proper, but not uncommon (think about capillary water in the footer with this technique; waterproofing is only addressing one aspect of water intrusion). Sure makes installing a footing tile drain properly impossible. My excavation was level; from there I formed the footers. This also allowed me plenty of room for a nice crushed-stone base for the slab. As a side benefit, my plumber also appreciated that he didn't have to dig for where his underslab DWV went.

I would use the dealer finder on the Fab-Form website to find a local dealer. On my build, I certainly had to order plenty of material that wasn't available locally. Once these subcontractors used it though, it became available locally pretty quickly as many of them adopted these techniques on future builds. Your footing subcontractor may well appreciate having a competitive edge to set them apart from their competition (and the value of a dry basement is something many general contractors will appreciate). And your excavation subcontractor will appreciate the ease of a level excavation over digging the perimeter trenches.

To me, the most important thing here is keeping the water away from the footers to start with; proper drainage away from the house, routing your downspouts well away from the perimeter of the house, routing your sump pump discharge well away from your house (typical here is that this is routed about 2" outside you foundation wall, thus causing its own problem), big overhangs are a bonus. The waterproofing is your last line of defense, not your first.

Designing SIP or stick-frame house

Mike in Bonham, TX — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 20:46:05 GMT

William, who is the local SIP mfr.? There are a few in Texas. No SIP mfr. has come close when comparing to sticks in Texas for my owners.

Chris: I'm curious about the comment of "I spoke to a builder I know and he made a good point that if you spray-foam the walls you don't have the option of adding anything at a later date." Sorry for being a bit slow here, but what are you talking about adding? More insulation? An add-on room? What is it that you can't add more of if you use spray foam?

And how are SIP's a superior insulation over spray foam?

Here's a gimme: Use 1" of spray foam in your walls and then fill it out with cellulose. That way you get the best of both worlds. The airtight seal of the foam and the cheapness of cellulose. The challenge with a loose-fill product in the walls is settling and nesting. Over time, the cellulose has a tendency to compress and settle and it is a great habitat for critters. I know, I have it in my walls and I got mice in the attic. They somehow got into the walls. They LOVE cellulose to nest in. It has been pure hell trying to get rid of them.

You mentioned going with OBN. Is UBuildIt down in your area and how did they compare?

Designing SIP or stick-frame house

Chris in Beaumont, TX — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 20:17:22 GMT

William,

I'm not too surprised to hear your SIP bids came back higher. Kind of what I figured. It just sounded too good to be true that the cost would be a wash when compared to the other options.

What I have been thinking of doing is a combination of spray cellulose and spray foam. I plan to put the cellulose in the walls, and spray foam in the roof. I spoke to a builder I know and he made a good point that if you spray-foam the walls, you don't have the option of adding anything at a later date.

I'm still working with John Harper on the floor plan and the elevations. I definitely feel like I made the right choice going with him for my plans. He's been great to work with, and being able to see the rooms and exterior in 3D has been a big help. He's definitely been trying to push me towards SIPs, but I just don't think it will be in my budget. But I do agree with him that it is a superior insulation over cellulose and foam.

I still plan to go through Be your own builder (also known as Owner Builder Network) mainly because they are the only one that is local. I decided against the one out of Houston simply because they really wouldn't be able to help me out with local subs.

As soon as my plans are completed I will start getting bids, then I will have to sell my house first before I can break ground.

Keep us posted on your build, hope everything goes as smooth as it can for you.

Step-by-step approach for footing & waterproofing

Mary in PA — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 18:57:55 GMT

Kenneth,

I've been interested in this post since I first read it. I have a few follow-up questions, if you don't mind.

You said: "... I would install a PVC water stop between the footers and the ICF wall. This is commonly used in commercial construction, but I have never seen it in residential construction besides my house."

What is PVC water stop? Is that a paint-on coating?

You said: "... I would order my fabric forms in a large-enough size that would leave me enough fabric to fold over the top of the footer and install a top quality peel-and-stick membrane (such as W.R. Grace) in a manner to tape it over the fabric form. This would form a continuous waterproofing and water-shedding membrane into my footing tile drains."

With a layer of fabric form and then the membrane, are you at all concerned about problems setting an ICF wall on that? I mean, is there supposed to be a concrete to concrete connection?

I saw a video of a guy who used a fabric-form footer, and then stacked his ICFs directly on that and brought (attached) the fabric up the sides of the ICF. He did ONE POUR for the footer and wall. Quite handy if you're only going as high as the basement with ICF. I doubt we'll do ICF due to our budget, but I am interested in the fabric form and getting very-good water drainage away from the house.

You said: "... I would install Schedule 20 PVC perforated sewer-pipe footing tile drains properly (at the level of the footers, not on top of the footers, and on a bed of crushed stone) and drain them to daylight."

In our area, it seems that the footers are made by digging a trench in the ground and pouring concrete directly into the trench. Such an arrangement makes getting drainage below the footing all but impossible. I could see the fabric form serving a real purpose to solve the problem... if I can find a contractor willing to try it. It is not supplied or used anywhere locally.

Thanks,
Mary

Radiant heat & insulation

Marty in Boston, MA — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 18:26:33 GMT

I will be installing radiant heat on the first and second floor of my residence. The radiant heat will consist of ½" PEX stapled to the subfloor and embedded in gypcrete (or lightweight cement). The finish floor will be tile in some areas and hardwood in others (I will be installing sleepers in the gypcrete so that I will be able to nail the hardwood to the floor.)

I was instructed to place insulation in the basement ceiling and first floor ceiling so that the heat from the first and second floors will be contained. For the basement ceiling, I will be installing faced fiberglass insulation with the vapor barrier towards the first floor. In other words, when I am in my basement and look up, I will see the pink insulation.

The second floor is more challenging. I am not sure if I should be installing faced or unfaced insulation in the first-floor ceiling (second-floor floor joists). If it’s faced insulation, which way does the vapor barrier face? I know that it should face the living area (or conditioned area), but in this case both the first and second floors are conditioned. My thoughts are to install unfaced insulation, but again, I am not certain. As for the radiant company, they told me that it doesn’t matter.

Your input will be greatly appreciated – thank you.

Designing SIP or stick-frame house

William in Atascocita, TX — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 09:37:57 GMT

Chris,

I plan to get permits within two weeks. Have gotten many bids, but still have more to go. After I get permits, then I'll submit everything to the HOA. My HOA can take up to 45 days if they choose. In the meantime, I'll complete the remainder of the bids.

Got the SIP bids for panels only and chose not to go with SIP, due to costs. I did find that SIP manufacturers in northern states were cheaper than the local one, even with the shipping. I tried every way I could to justify SIP and it's just too costly. Still working on getting foam and/or spray cellulose bids to decide which way to go. I prefer foam, but again the costs are a large factor.

So I'm looking at a mid-September or Oct. start. Getting all the SIP bids slowed everything more than planned, as I was thinking I could start early Aug. Another item I did was to give a builder my plans and get his price. His price was about what I expected and he had it line-itemed. He would not give me a copy of the line-item quote unless I signed with him. It would have been a big help with my bids. Bottom line was about $50K more than I expect to spend building myself.

John Harper has been very good to work with, and has called several times checking on my progress. He has really encouraged me to go SIP; so with full disclosure, I want everyone to know he does have a connection with the local SIP manufacturer who gave the highest quote. Now having said that, John gave me the name of another company up north who provided the lowest bid. Another problem I have with SIP manufacturers is they all put a clause in the bid that after signing with them they will do final design, which may increase costs! This is after I've already supplied them with my plans to bid on. The fine print allows them to go deep into my pocket like a used-car salesman. I would never sign the bid sheet without crossing out that clause. Can you imagine what would happen if you signed a bid from framer, plumber, electrician, etc. with a clause like that?

When do you plan to break ground? Are you still using one of the outside building companies to assist?

Industry Typical Employment - and Workman's Comp?

Kenneth in Lees Summit, MO — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 09:36:44 GMT

For some trades, I found that the subcontractor consisted of one person. Excavator - one person. HVAC tech - one person. Electrician - one person. Plumber - one person. Finish carpenter - one person. Tile layer - one person, etc. I hired the person with their name on the truck, and frequently these were single-proprietor shops. Certainly this doesn't work in all cases, but it is potentially a solution to at least some 1099 headaches.

Managing Office Shifting

drantfrac in ottawa, AR — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 22:44:19 GMT

Moving a piano is not an easy job. It calls for a great deal of expertise and knack to shift the instrument from one place to a new location. For moving the bulky piano, professional help is always recommended. There are moving companies that specialize in transferring bulky items like a piano. A piano is a cherished possession for music lovers. With its smooth texture and shiny surface, it needs extra care to be carried over. It takes special training and knowledge for shifting the piano. The professional companies are aware of the challenges that can be confronted while shifting the instrument. Moving a piano takes expert supervision, which is available with the professional moving company. The moving company studies the piano and the passage before transferring it.

Designing SIP or stick-frame house

Jere in Ray Twp., MI — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 21:51:48 GMT

Mike,
I was thinking of thermal mass, like your comment towards the end where you mentioned concrete continues to radiate heat well into the night after baking in the sun all day. That is why I mentioned in my original response about the foam being on the outside only. During the cold seasons, the sun would shine through the windows during the day, heating up the concrete. At night, the heat would be released back into the house... the same would be true with concrete floors.

Now with ICF, where you have foam on both sides, I guess the way to look at this is a 12-month cycle and the different seasons. As you get through the summer, the concrete warms up slowly. Once you get to the cold seasons, the concrete starts to cool slowly. With the concrete in the ICF thermally connected to the earth by the concrete footings, the ground temp. is usually around 52 degrees (well, in Michigan anyway, under the frost line). During hot summers if the outside temp. is 100 degrees, and your indoor temp is 70 degrees, the differential would be 30, leaving a median concrete wall temp. around 85 degrees... however, the concrete is thermally connected to the 52-degree ground, which helps keep the concrete cooler... the median between 85 and 52 would be around 68 degrees. (I'm sure these numbers aren't accurate, more for explaining purposes.)

During cold winters, if the outside temp. is 20 degrees, inside 70 degrees, it leaves median temp. at 45... ground temp is 52. The hot summer pre-charged the concrete, and this heat will be released during the winter... hopefully through the concrete slab floor and into the house. By the time summer rolls around, the concrete in the ICF is cooler, which helps keep the house cooler during the summer, and the cycle continues.

This raises another question. Is it more beneficial to have an insulated concrete slab with a thermal break between the slab and concrete footing/ICF or a non-insulated slab without a thermal break? Maybe depends on the climate, whether you are heating-dominant or cooling-dominant, and also if you have a basement or slab on grade? In a cold climate, you wouldn't want all of your heat going into the ground, so insulated may be better. Down south where it is hot most of the time, it may be better having an uninsulated slab, if you have a basement, to take advantage of the cooler ground temp.

So in a nutshell, depending on where you live, the type of climate could greatly influence which type of building works best. In some areas and depending if you have a slab on grade or a basement with slab, you may need/want a thermal break between the concrete slab and ICF wall/footing. If there is a thermal break between the concrete slab and the ICF footing, the only real thermal mass that has any real benefit would be the slab, since the ICF concrete is totally insulated and isolated from the indoors... the ICF is still a great buffer between the indoor and outdoor temps.

Industry Typical Employment - and Workman's Comp?

Mary in PA — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 17:06:43 GMT

Ken, thanks for your input. As you suggested, I too have come to the conclusion that one must view this topic from the standpoint of risk and make decision given the resources and constraints on the project.

Chris, I’m aware of the legal and liability issues surrounding workman’s comp insurance - which is why I created this post. As per my two posts above in this thread, I was unpleasantly surprised to find out that in my area it appears to be common practice to have at least some people on the crew who are not part of a full-time staff for the contractor (i.e. the ‘1099’ hires). This is not just one contractor who bid my job, but rather a trend among all of the framers and many of the other trades as well.

Perhaps this is a geographic issue, and other areas of the country don’t have this problem – but I doubt it. In a recent issue of The Journal of Light Construction I read a blurb about a very large contractor (I think in NJ) who had had workers on their crews for some 20 years, who have never worked anywhere else and who (you guessed it) were listed as 1099 contract people! Obviously they were employees – not 1099’s. The blurb described how this large contractor had lost some type of legal action (not sure whether it state or federal) for their abuses in hiring practices and unpaid taxes. So, it does seem widespread.

The ‘town’ where I’m building has a population of less than 500. The next town ten miles over has about 6,000 people. There are only so many contractors. And my job is small – it isn’t going to attract someone who does commercial work and may be more likely (although not guaranteed) to have proper hiring and insurance policies in place. And even contractors from population centers further away still appear to have this issue…

What is an owner-builder to do? Chris, since you have already completed your home, it would be really helpful to hear how you handled this issue for your build. Thanks.